Oh My Gosh...It Must be Winter...(0;

I just toweled off after floating around in the pool, reading a book. Surprisingly, the pool is a cool 28C(82F) this afternoon...almost cold for this time of the year but refreshing nonetheless. It has been unusually overcast for most of the day. Checking the weather synopsis on-line I see that our temperature for today is 26C (79F)...OMG....it IS cold out!! ...possibly the coldest day we have had all winter!! The gentle ocean breeze must be causing a wind chill.  I'm going to have to bundle up...maybe a T-shirt instead of my tank top but I'll stick with the shorts and flipflops. 

Brrr...time for a hot toddy, instead of a chilled cerveza, while we watch the sun drop into the Pacific.

A Gecko from the Rubble

 When we left for BC last year I drew out a gecko pattern on the concrete floor of our casa prior to having the floor tiled by our handy hombre, Gus.

  

Returning in November there was tile surrounding my pattern and a much bigger project than I had anticipated. 

 How hard could it be?...tile, maybe some small stones and a few glass beads for interest. Using the leftover floor tiles for the gecko body, I had forgotten what a time-consuming, dirty and draining task it was to break, cut, shape and fit pieces of tile into a pattern in 30C+ weather.

 Over the period of a couple of weeks, after dripping a few pints of sweat on to the tiles, floor and surrounding area and quaffing a few cervezas, the gecko started to form from the pieces. I stuck each individual piece to the concrete with some adhesivo, 

added some garden stones to start filling in the background - sticking each stone down with mas adhesivo, added the small glass beads, then grouted and washed, grouted some more and washed and grouted and washed for a few hours, disintegrating 2 large sponges and wearing down the tips of 3 fingers until the stones, tiles and beads seemed secure.

      

After I was sure every little bit was dry, I brushed on a thick layer of barnis for protection, to enhance the grout and to make the stones look shiny. 

It's fun to create a project from recycled tile remnants, a few glass beads and leftover stones. All together there are just under 2000 pieces...a very unique addition to our paradise by the sea.

Chalk it up to experience...!!?

Last Tuesday Meg and I hit the road for a little road trip up to Ajijic, just south of Guadalajara, for a bit of R&R and some retail therapy at the Thursday market in Tonala. Shopping at the street market is fun, daunting and exhausting but treasures are abundant if you can persevere miles and miles of vendors and small shops!! 


We set up base camp in Ajijic at the casa of our amigas, Diane y Ellen, along with their boisterous tribe of cats and doggies. 


Early Thursday morning Meg and I set off along the carreterria through Ajijic to get to the market as it was opening up. We turned left on the green light at WalMart and immediately were pulled over by two of Ajijic's finest. Two very large, imposing cops strode up to Meg's window. Our infraction was turning left without the advance green arrow. One officer asked for our truck registration, import permit, Meg's drivers licence and immigration card (FM3). Over the years we have been warned of police impostors taking original documents (drivers licence/FM3/passport) and keeping them or demanding $$ to get them back. For this reason we have made copies of our FM3s, passports and licences. When Meg handed her FM3 copy to the officer, the younger officer saw it, rolled his eyes and said "copia" with a smirk. They spoke back and forth but we could not understand all that was said. Then, in a very threatening manner, the older cop said that it was a serious infraction to have a copy of the FM3...he was going to impound our truck and we would have to return to Cuyutlan to get Meg's original FM3 and we would be fined 8400 pesos (about $650). Yikes!! Meg and I were both aghast and intimidated. It would be a major endeavour to try to return to Cuyutlan (3 hours drive) without our truck as transportation. It's hard to think clearly in a situation like this - two very imposing, uniformed and armed hombres staring us down, menacing to leave us stranded on the side of the road. The next thing I hear is Meg asking how much it would cost to settle things here, in the truck. She opened her wallet and showed what she had...asked me for my pesos...we came up with about 2000 which the older cop discreetly palmed and everything was okay. Adios!


Since Meg was in violation for driving with a copy FM3 and I had my original, I switched from being navigator to driver, getting out of the truck, walking in front of the police car (F-825) and into the driver's seat. Then we were off to Tonala.


When we returned to Diane and Ellen's later in the day and explained our encounter with the gendarmes, they both were outraged. There was an article in the latest 'GuadalajaraReporter', written by the police chief, stating that he wanted to hear about incidents of 'mordida' (roadside payouts/bribes). In a flash, off Ellen and Meg went, down to the police station.


Turned out the the chief wasn't all that interested in Meg's story until he heard that she gave the officers 2000 pesos. He said that he would investigate and wanted Meg to return on Saturday at 6pm...we extended our stay in Ajijic 2 more days. 


So on Saturday Ellen and Meg stopped by the police station and, lo and behold, the police chief was resting on his day off....come back on Sunday morning. Sunday morning Ellen and Meg drove back to the police station - sorprisa - still no police chief. This is, supposedly, the guy who wants to put and stop to dirty cops. He is not looking all that clean himself.


Turns out that a Mexican friend of D&E's was stopped in exactly the same spot on Thursday afternoon for the same infraction. She told us that there is no sign stating that left turns are only permitted on the green arrow. She also said the that ticket is 32 pesos) less than $3).


As they say, hindsight is always 20/20. Perhaps Meg and I should have demanded to see our ticket and go the the police station to pay it. We didn't know the two cops were bluffing and were very worried that our truck would be confiscated. We need our truck. We now know that, apparently, only Policia Federale can take documents in hand...local police can look at them but not hold them. Copies of FM3s may be okay but this is, currently, a grey area. It's easy to say 'get the badge number and officer's name', 'look for a genuine ticket book', talk things through...but being law-abiding Canadians, we naively respect uniformed personnel...against our better judgment.


When we are back at the beach, floating around in our sparkling pool, enjoying the comfort and serenity of our casa, it is hard to imagine that corruption is lurking beyond our gate. Alas, this experience has tarnished our affection for Ajijic and Mexico, in general. Muy triste...